Gold

Shares in junior precious metals miner Silver Sun Resources Corp. spiked 10% on Friday after becoming the sole owner of the Cherry Hill Mining Company, a fellow Californian gold miner. The Vancouver company's stock is up just short of 50% on the TSX-Venture exchange in 2011. Silver Sun is in the final stages of development of its gold project in Yreka, California and engaged in an on-going work programme in Mexico's prolific Zacatecas silver district and at a newly-acquired silver project Yoreme in Sonora state.

Zambia's finance minister said on Thursday that audits had highlighted tax "issues" with Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources (VED.L:Quote), and Canada's First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO: Quote) in addition to Glencore's (GLEN.L:Quote) subsidiary in the country.

New Gold is accelerating its drill program for its Blackwater project in central B.C. The company has budgeted $20 million for between 40,000 […]

Rising inflation in China and India's tenth interest rate hike since March 2010, is set to take a toll on consumers preference for the yellow metal, according to analysts and traders. ``Gold and silver will surely get pummelled in the near term with signs of a stronger US dollar and yet another rate hike in India. Investors have very little savings these days and prefer not to invest in gold,'' said Manoj Maheswari, bullion analyst at a brokerage firm here.

Sulliden Gold announced positive results from feasibility-level metallurgical test work focused on the oxide-bearing gold and silver material at its 100%-owned Shahuindo Project located in Peru.

Sulliden Gold Corporation Ltd. (TSX:SUE)(OTCQX:SDDDF) has completed a new gold and silver mineral resource estimate for its 100%-owned Shahuindo Project in Peru. The updated estimate delivered a 121% increase of indicated gold ounces in the oxides and a 397% increase in inferred gold ounces from the sulphides relative to the 2009 year-end estimate. Sulliden continues to actively drill the Shahuindo property and new results will continue to be released throughout 2011. Image of the Shahuindo Project by Sulliden Resources

Buying in China and India, central banks increasing reserves and particularly dwindling gold production could potentially drive the gold price to US$5,000/oz says a new report by investment bank Standard Chartered. The report, which studied 375 mines around the world, also shows that while exploration budgets have steadily risen since 2002 (with the exception of 2009) in response to rising prices, the rate of new gold discoveries have continued to decline.

Eritrean National Mining Corp. has agreed to pay US$32 million for a 30 percent stake in Chalice Gold Mines' Zara gold project, Bloomberg reported Wednesday:

Diversified Australian miner Astra Mining announced on Wednesday plans to list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange before the end of August after two days earlier inking a deal to enter the Nigerian market and further expand its global presence. Deal-hungry Astra Mining’s global portfolio includes gold and tin interests in south east Asia and southern India, coal mines in Australia, iron ore in India, manganese in Africa and the commercialisation of a new high-strength steel technology from a base in Hungary.